Escude raises prickly issue of mayor’s salary

Things were pretty dull at the Mansura Town Council meeting -- until they weren’t.

It only took a few words from long-time Councilman Gaon Escude concerning the average monthly pay for mayors and aldermen in this area to get a very noisy ball rolling. The brouhaha occurred at the end of the council’s April 9 meeting.

In fact, Escude’s few utterances were more numbers than words and he never actually had a chance to make whatever point he was going to make.

“I feel targeted,” Mayor Kenneth Pickett said, as he cut off Escude’s end-of-meeting financial report a few seconds after hearing the average monthly salary figures for 21 mostly central and south Louisiana municipalities.

The municipalities included all nine of Avoyelles Parish’s and ranged in population from Leesville with 7,138 to Evergreen with 310.

The mayor’s salaries ranged from a low of $200 a month in Plaucheville (pop. 400) to a high of $3,000 a month in Mansura (pop. 1,604).

“We have beaten this dead horse,” Pickett said several times. “That horse is dead.”

Pickett said voters “had a chance to elect someone cheaper” in 2014, a reference to mayoral candidate Julia Boston’s comments that she would consider donating most of her monthly pay back to the town if she were elected.

There had been some rumblings on the 2014 council to put forth a motion to reduce the mayor’s salary for the 2015-2019 term. However, the motion was never made.

When Pickett commented that if the council wanted to reduce his salary, maybe they should cut everyone’s pay, Town Clerk Benita Augustine attempted to make a point but was cut short.

“You do not live in Mansura,” Pickett said, continuing to tell her that she had no right to speak on the issue. “You don’t vote in Mansura,” he added.

Augustine eventually managed to edge her way into the conversation long enough to say that the only thing she wanted to add to the discussion was that state law prohibits the council from cutting the mayor’s salary during his current term in office.

Pickett pointed out that his salary was set at $3,000 a month eight years ago and the voters knew what his salary was when they re-elected him four years ago.

A key point in his justification for the $36,000 per year salary was that he is responsible for everything that happens in the town, including presenting a balanced budget.

He said it is only right that the “most important” employee be paid more than other employees.

“If you are responsible, then please fix the pothole in front of my house,” one resident shouted.

The next 10 minutes were consumed by a free discussion during which time several conversations were going on at the same time.

Pickett said several times that Escude “wasn’t man enough” to bring his report to Pickett “man to man.”

Escude was able to squeeze in a rebuttal that he is man enough to present the issue at the council meeting for discussion -- a discussion that never occurred because of Pickett’s reluctance to beat dead horses.

The point of Escude’s report on mayor and council salaries is one of those political issues that literally “goes without saying.”

Everyone in the council room knew what Escude wanted to say, even if Pickett didn’t let him get the words out.

As Pickett had to begrudgingly admit after being prodded by a citizen in the audience, the council had to approve his $3,000 per month salary eight years ago.

As Augustine was eventually allowed to point out, the council cannot cut the mayor’s salary during his current term in office.

What was not said, because “it goes without saying,” is that the council CAN reduce the mayor’s salary for the 2019-2023 term, to be decided in the Nov. 6 municipal elections.

If the council decided to reduce the monthly pay to $500 paid to the Marksville (pop. 5,700) mayor or $1,000 paid to the Leesville (pop. 7,238) mayor or even the $1,900 paid to the Bunkie (pop. 4,171) mayor, the new salary would take effect Jan. 1, 2019.

While Mansura’s mayor is the highest paid in the parish and in the nearby municipalities Escude included in his report, the town’s aldermen rank low in the list, receiving $200 per month.

Hessmer’s three council members have the lowest monthly stipend at $50. Evergreen pays each of its five aldermen $75/month. Three of the 21 municipalities -- including Plaucheville -- pay aldermen $100 per month. Three other towns pay the same as Mansura.

While Marksville pays its mayor less than most on the list, it has the highest monthly pay for its council members, which is also $500 a month.

Under Marksville’s City Charter, the mayor is a voting member of the council, as well as the city’s administrative executive.

In his printed report on the salary comparisons, Escude noted that in addition to the $3,000 salary, the town also has to pay $229.50 per month in payroll taxes for a total obligation of $38,754 per year -- about $2 a month for every man, woman and child who lives, works and plays in Mansura.

Over a 4-year term, that amounts to $155,016.

Perhaps providing a glimpse at a future motion -- but Escude would not confirm that after that meeting -- he included what a $1,000 per month mayor’s salary would cost.

In addition to the salary, the town would pay $76.50 in payroll taxes. The annual obligation would be $12,918. The 4-year total would be $51,672 -- saving the town $25,836 per year and $103,344 over four years.